# Dashes instead of asterisks when bullet lists copied from Ber

**URL:** <https://community.bear.app/t/dashes-instead-of-asterisks-when-bullet-lists-copied-from-ber/19031>\
**Category:** Feature Request\
**Created:** [April 16, 2026, 5:58am UTC](https://community.bear.app/t/dashes-instead-of-asterisks-when-bullet-lists-copied-from-ber/19031 "2026-04-16T05:58:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![daneb1](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.bear.app/daneb1/32/5808_2.png) [@daneb1](https://community.bear.app/u/daneb1)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2026, 5:58am UTC](https://community.bear.app/t/dashes-instead-of-asterisks-when-bullet-lists-copied-from-ber/19031/1 "2026-04-16T05:58:15Z")

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When copy-paste plain text from Bear, bullet lists are formatted as `*` asterisks. I would appreciate dashes `-` which is IMO more logical and widely used.

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**Author:** ![ldrydenb](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.bear.app/ldrydenb/32/207_2.png) [@ldrydenb](https://community.bear.app/u/ldrydenb)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2026, 8:49am UTC](https://community.bear.app/t/dashes-instead-of-asterisks-when-bullet-lists-copied-from-ber/19031/2 "2026-04-19T08:49:22Z")

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Not sure why dashes would be more “logical”. The Markdown spec says:

> Unordered lists use asterisks, pluses, and hyphens – interchangably – as list markers

A brief experiment shows that lists copy-pasted from Bear are formatted as they were typed. Lists which used asterisks to denote bullets are pasted as asterisks, lists which used pluses to denote bullets are pasted as pluses, and lists which used hyphens to denote bullets are pasted as hyphens.

This would seem to me to be exemplary used of the markdown format: the text you entered is the text you get out.

The Format\>List menu item defaults to using an asterisk to denote a list. Maybe what you need is to be able to choose the default: asterisk, plus, or hyphen? I’d support that.

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**Author:** ![evanfuchs](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.bear.app/evanfuchs/32/5408_2.png) [@evanfuchs](https://community.bear.app/u/evanfuchs)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2026, 1:27pm UTC](https://community.bear.app/t/dashes-instead-of-asterisks-when-bullet-lists-copied-from-ber/19031/3 "2026-04-19T13:27:17Z")

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> [@ldrydenb](#):
>
> The Format\>List menu item defaults to using an asterisk to denote a list. Maybe what you need is to be able to choose the default: asterisk, plus, or hyphen? I’d support that.

Smart. Configuring what Bear uses for its list makes more sense than changing user input. I never took the time to research the cause, but seeing a mix of `*` and `-` in the same md has bugged me from time to time.

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**Author:** ![daneb1](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/community.bear.app/daneb1/32/5808_2.png) [@daneb1](https://community.bear.app/u/daneb1)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 5:54am UTC](https://community.bear.app/t/dashes-instead-of-asterisks-when-bullet-lists-copied-from-ber/19031/4 "2026-04-20T05:54:11Z")

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> Not sure why dashes would be more “logical”.

Because this is what is normally (=almost everywhere) used as markers for unordered list (dashes or little dots), I mean in all other uses outside markdown. In printed text, in web design etc. Even Bear is using dots (not asterisks) for marking unordered lists (even without “hide markdown” settings). When copy-paste, I would like to get the dashes immediately so that I could use it in other types of documents (which use hyphens) immediately also.

And yes, I did not mean that Bear should change your purposefully added asterisks to dashes when copy-paste. I meant that hyphens should be used as default when I use Format → List (by keyboard shortcuts). This is better definition, thanks for correction.